Spotted recently on the streets of Chicago was a Japanese crossover that will never — not in final production form — actually make it to the streets of Chicago.

Nor to the streets of any other American city, for that matter. Wearing no camo and sitting in broad daylight, the diesel-powered Mazda CX-8 was photographed by Peter Lazar, albeit not from the front.

When the 2018 Mazda CX-8 is launched later this year, its primary market will be Mazda’s Japanese home base. “It will not be sold in the U.S., as CX-9 fills that role quite well,” Mazda spokesperson Jacob Brown told TTAC yesterday.

Mazda also re-confirmed that the CX-4, a more rakish take on the CX-5, is also still primarily a Chinese market crossover that will not make its way across the Pacific. In other words, 40 percent of Mazda’s global utility vehicle lineup stays outside the mighty SUV market that is America.

In Japan, the CX-9 that serves as Mazda USA’s flagship is deemed too large for the domestic market. The upcoming CX-8 is a three-row vehicle that rides on a similarly lengthy wheelbase. However, the CX-8 is shorter and significantly narrower than the CX-9.

“They are closely related, but they serve different audiences that suit the different tastes (and road widths) of their respective buyers,” Brown said.

In the United States, Mazda feels the CX-8’s space is effectively filled by the equivalently broad CX-5 in gas and upcoming diesel formats, and the larger, turbocharged, five-inches-wider CX-9.

Whether for local executives to get a feel for a vehicle or for marketing campaigns, vehicles not bound for North America do tend to find their way to the United States for one reason or another. In this Mazda’s case, the unique CX-8 badge, diesel signifier, and right-hand drive didn’t capture an inordinate amount of interest, perhaps because the CX-8 looks very much like a CX-9 that spent a few minutes in the dryer.

Mazda’s utility vehicle volume in the U.S. reported a 22-percent year-over-year sales improvement in 2017’s first four months. The CX-3, CX-5, and CX-9 account for slightly more than half of Mazda’s U.S. sales output after claiming responsibility for 44 percent of the brand’s U.S. volume at this stage of 2016.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net and a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.

Yep, Subaru has 3.7% of the market, or, more than double the Mazda market share. The company of bad engines and all-wheel drive sold more Legacy’s than 6’s, more Forester’s than CX-5’s, more Crosstrek’s than CX-3’s, more Imprezza’s than 3’s, and seven times the number of Outback’s than the new and improved CX-9’s. Mazda sold about three and a half times more Miata’s than BRZ’s so there’s that.

Subaru is by and large a success story for the size company they are. They have a niche that they cater to well (safety, and AWD). Mazda has a niche (sportiness) that people unfortunately don’t care about. Subaru owners seem to be fiercely loyal folks to me.

Unbelievably, most people don’t know intimate details about cars. They don’t respond with “engine issues” to a Rorschach test when you show them a pic of a Subaru, nor do they respond with “rust” when shown a pic of a Mazda.

Subaru has excelled at marketing “Why” for their products (note the “Love” campaign). They have great brand loyalty. The market segment of outdoorsy folks is increasing faster than the ‘sporty but not sports-car’ segment.

Mazda fails at marketing. They lost the story line when they were marketing the “What” with SkyActiv instead of the “Why” (“Zoom Zoom,” “Driving Matters”). They also admit that their driver-focused identity only appeals to ~20% of the market, which I guess is a lot less than Subaru’s.

Nobody will ever take a large vehicle seriously with only a 4 cylinder motor. It doesn’t matter how much torque it has. The reason the CX9 is not selling is because it does not have the big motor, and this is also true for the Mazda 6. Luxury buyers want a bigger motor. Until the 6 cylinder comes back, these cars will die off.

Bender, Volvo is breaking sales records with the 4cyl xc90. Mazda’s issue is not just the engine. The cx9 is also a hideous looking vehicle. Front end looks like a cartoon. Packaging is also crap. For $45k you still don’t get a memory or cooled drivers seat. Then you have to account for a sub par dealership experience.

I have no stats, but the women I know are very interested in the mechanics of their vehicles, especially with children to carry. Reliability is important. I would like to say that women are not just looking at the color but are more sophisticated,at least my friends. Especially the ones I have that own BMWs and Mercedes. Can anyone really be so abusrd to pay $45,000 for a car and not know what motor, features, power and warranty it has? Who can trust any of these manufacturers.

“Can anyone really be so abusrd to pay $45,000 for a car and not know what motor, features, power and warranty it has?”

LOL. Can anyone really be so absurd to pay $250k for a house and not know what AC it has, it’s SEER, the attic’s R-value, or the house’s kWh/delta_T performance?

IIRC, Rolls Royce didn’t even publish their power ratings, and their cars cost a bit over $45k.

I was riding with a coworker to lunch yesterday and all he knew about his engine was “turbo”–not the size or even cylinder count. My unscientific estimate puts him just below the norm–I do think people know cylinder count, but like an AC, they don’t care.

A large 7 passenger vehicle (or even a 5 passenger car) needs a V6 to carry all the passengers and also luggage and even tow something behind it like a boat. It has to be offered for the vehicle to be taken seriously by buyers, and to draw people into the showroom. Tesla has no cylinders, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have equivalent power and torque to carry a full load.

For the same money, these people have gone to other products that come with towing capacity and larger motors, including BMW, GMC and Toyota. So sales of mazdas won’t reflect those that switched brands. Let’s face it, stats will show 100% of new CX9s are 4 cylinders! Of course, no other motor is offered. But those that went to another brand with a larger motor won’t be included in this stat.

Heard from another auto pundit that Mazda fears that offering the 2.5L Turbo as an engine option in the CX-5 may take away sales from the CX-9. Mazda wants very much to focus on drivability and not performance going forward. They want their message to be about fun to drive and that is it! Sort of like what Toyota FT 86 and Subaru BRZ was trying to get across to their buyers who wanted more performance!

Last Gen CX9 owner here. Two things I wanted Mazda to address that they have not concerning CUVs are:

The CX9 should have gone larger (interior not exterior). The current styling is IMO the best on a large CUV however it compromises interior space. Honda does alot more with less. This would have open them up to a new type of customer that needs extra space that the model I have did not provide but Transverse owners love.

Next was really hoping that they would release the CX7. IMO they would benefit from a largish two row in the vain of the Murano/Edge. I think they are missing out on a big chance with this one.

Ok one more maybe they should introduce a CX 9.5 Make it 3 inches wider, 3 inches taller and 3 inches longer with a 3 inch longer wheelbase.

Yea I want a two row with more room + refinement and that 2.5 really badly. Wifey’s short list of next rides are used Edge/Murano/Venzas… with a good lease deal this could have worked. I loathe 3 rows and most of the 2 rows out now are just too slow.

Both of these cars did not pass the crash tests to achieve 5 star ratings. The countries they are selling these vehicles have much lower standards so they will not modify the engineering to allow them in China and Japan.

From my readings on Mazda marketing, they are hoping their 2.2L diesel will be a hit in the U.S. market. Mazda has no plans that they disclose for more performance gas engines. They feel that the right market campaign is all that needed to generate more sales at a high margin. No incentives for dealers or buyers going forward is their primary goal along with high profit margins.

They have said that the 2.5L, 2.5L turbo, & 2.2L diesel were all designed to fit in the same space, so it’s almost plug-and-play to add engine variants to the CX-5, 6, and even 3.

They hope to get a 10% take rate on the diesel CX-5, and that will determine if it gets offered in other vehicles. The 6 was supposed to get the diesel as the upgrade engine, but I think they’re waiting on the success of the CX-5 before pulling that trigger. And I also suspect they held off on dropping in the 2.5L turbo because they don’t want to undercut the intended diesel. If the diesel falls flat, then I would expect the 2.5L turbo to find its way into the 6 at some point.

I doubt they are doing or will do any more work on their current generation of engines. Instead, I think they are pouring everything into HCCI for SkyActiv-II. Rumors say it will hit in 2019. If it does, then all their current engines instantly become obsolete.